


The Woodland Tale

by Urbenmyth



Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [11]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Animal Harm, Because the narrator doesn't naturally use langauge, I hope it worked, I was going for "translated stiltedly", My attempts to understand deer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urbenmyth/pseuds/Urbenmyth
Summary: The Eye, the Spiral, The Web- these are deep, complex fears from complex thinking minds.Not the Hunt.The Hunt has always been a fear for beasts.
Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965088
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	The Woodland Tale

**Statement of a nameless avatar, regarding wolves** **.**

**Statement never given, and never received.**

**Statement Begins.**

I was young when it happened. I remember that. I do not remember much- it is hard to put it into words. I had no words then. But I remember being tiny, and helpless, and afraid.

My mother had told me that I needed to hide. There were so many dangers around in the woods, but I was scared of wolves. We all were, of course, but I had been lost when I had seen them in the forest. They were sated then, and had no need to hunt me, but still I froze until they left. I could have died then. I knew that, if nothing else. 

So I hid in the grass, and kept my head down until she signaled I could get up.

I waited. My senses were on edge for a crack or a growl or running feet. I could almost imagine the wolves getting closer. So when I heard the noise, I nearly passed out.

The noise was so loud. I’d never realized a noise could be this loud. The loudest I’d ever heard was thunder, and this was so much louder. I hid more, and saw the humans step from the woods. They stood over the body of my mother.

My thoughts were less clear then. I couldn’t have put it into words. But I knew they didn’t take the body. They didn’t eat it. They seemed quiet.

It was later I learnt it was for sport. That they were sad that they had broke the rules of the game. But then?

I didn’t know what was happening.

I ran once they left. I ran and ran, and as I ran, I heard and smelt a wolf. It was running behind me, its breath hot, its growl filling my ears. It wasn’t even trying to be quiet.  
  
I was scared. But beneath the panic, I felt something else.

I wanted to be a wolf. A wolf is strong, you see. I would have simply eaten the hunters, and my mother wouldn’t be dead. I wouldn't have to be afraid, if I was a wolf.

I would not have been able to think that thought before. It surprised me when it came.

I stopped running. I turned to face the wolf, and it was not there. I kept running then, but I think I know where the wolf was, now I look back.

I am able to think many thoughts now. I can barely remember when I could not.

I should have died. I was terrified. I was a lone child, wandering the woods. I should have been food. I was easy prey for the wolves, with the glittering eyes and sharp teeth.

But in my dreams, I _was_ a wolf. Perhaps the wolves could see that.

Perhaps I was simply lucky.

I ate plants, but sometimes I would eat a beaver or a bird. I would hunt it like the wolves did. My teeth were sharper then they should be, I think. I did not know any other deer to check. The herds rose their tails when they saw me. I didn’t care for them- I did not need to be safe.  
  
I found the wolves again, and they growled. Not as if at prey, but as they did to each other. The dominance ritual the other bucks would not give me. We fought. And I won. I tore out its throat.

Their blood pooled, and as the pack fled, I wondered if the bucks from the herds could have killed a wolf like that.

I was older when I saw the humans. They were not the ones who killed my mother. But my thoughts were not sharpened enough to know that yet. So I simply saw humans.

My antlers had grown in, then. Long and sharp. Too sharp. Sharp enough to pierce skin and bone. My hooves were too. All of me was.

My teeth were long and sharp as well. I ate them, the humans, and it felt right.

It felt like being a wolf.

I found others. I do not think they were the humans who had killed my mother. But I do not think my mother had wronged the humans who killed her, who left me to the mercy of wolves. So it does not matter.

My senses were sharper. As was my mind. I knew words now, I could think and plan. I could lay traps. I could remember.

And I could smell the humans who had hunted my mother.

They were miles away. But I could.

It is easier to leave the forest then I thought. A deer hides, and a wolf stalks, and I was both. They did not see me as I moved, my antlers sharp and bloody.

They screamed when I found them. They...shot me. Yes. A gun. I know that now. They shot me with a gun.

But I did not die. I am not my mother. I am not prey.

I could understand a language, now. With every human I ate, my mind grew sharper. They said I am game, sport. That they killed my mother for sport. That they would kill me for sport. But I am better at this game then them

And I know enough to hate them now.

I know enough to seek revenge.

I am a wolf, now. A wolf as fast as a deer, and as clever as a human. I can hear them talk, when they think I am just a dumb animal. I understand what they are saying.

And I think they are right.

It is time for hunting season to begin.

**Statement ends.**


End file.
